Blog Archives

It was bad enough that the Republican debate audience did the “let them die” chant at the previous gathering of dolts, last night they booed a gay soldier who asked a reasonable question: would these clowns back up the repeal of “don’t ask don’t tell.:

So the score so far today is Democrats 1 (Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is voted out), Republicans 1 (Dream act voted down… actually, it didn’t get passed the 61 vote filibuster requirement). Tomorrow they will be debating and maybe voting on the START treaty… whoever wins on that one will break the score.

A procedural vote is expected by noon. If at least 60 senators vote to advance the bill as expected, the legislation could pass as early as late afternoon. Republicans could demand extended debate time, but early indications were that they may not draw the process out further. We’ll see.

This, if it passes, will be the completion of another 2008 election promise by Obama and a successful manipulation by Harry Reid. What Senator McCain tries in holding it off could be interesting.

“First, Sen. McCain said he would seriously consider repealing it if the military leadership thought we should, and [when] the military leadership said it should be repealed, he pulled away the football. Then Sen. McCain said he would need to see a study from the Pentagon. When the Pentagon produced the study saying repeal would have no negative effect at all, he pulled away the football again.

“And his latest trick, he said yesterday that he opposed repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ a proposal that would be a great stride forward for both equality and military readiness … because of the economy,” Reid added. “I repeat, the senior senator from Arizona said he couldn’t support repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ because of the economy.

The Pentagon study that argues that gay troops could serve openly without hurting the military’s ability to fight is expected to re-ignite debate this month on Capitol Hill over repealing the 17-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Officials familiar with the 10-month study’s results have said a clear majority of respondents don’t care if gays serve openly, with 70 percent predicting that lifting the ban would have positive, mixed or no results. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the findings hadn’t been released.

Republicans, led by Sen. John McCain of Arizona, have mostly opposed repealing the law because they say efforts to do so are politically driven and dangerous at a time of two wars.

Tell” legislation to the Senate floor sometime in December. In a statement, Reid said the pending defense authorization bill – which contains language ending the ban on openly gay servicemembers – has the White House’s support. White House Press SecretaryRobert Gibbs also said Wednesday that the repeal is a “priority,” but that President Barack Obama has not lobbied any senators for support. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), who usually caucuses with Democrats but is considered a swing voter on this issue, is expected to hold a press conference Thursday morning with Senate Democrats to “show broad support” for the repeal.

U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton ordered the Air Force to reinstate Margaret Witt, an 18-year veteran of the branch, who achieved the rank of major before she was discharged three years ago for what was classified at the time as “homosexual conduct.” Leighton found her termination violated her due process and equal protection rights.

Leighton’s ruling is the second in three weeks to undermine the legal foundation of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, the 17-year-old ban precluding homosexuals from serving openly in the U.S. armed forces.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) seemed like he was about to lose his temper during a press briefing Tuesday after Republicans filibustered the defense appropriations bill over a measure that would have repealed the military‘s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) held a briefing in the Senate press gallery immediately following the vote. McCain grew increasingly obstinate when pressed on the military’s history of actively seeking out gay troops to be dismissed under the policy.

This is a small triumph for the Republicans who, led this time by John McCain, filibustered the Defense Bill coming up for debate, and prevented the 60 votes (all Dems and Independents plus 1 Republican) needed by Harry Reid from happening.

Senate Majority Leader Reid needed those 60 votes to overcome Republicans led by McCain, but because he had attached debate on the DREAM Act and a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell as amendments he was stomped. Centrist Republican senators like Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine were considered crucial to this effort — but they were unwilling to cross the aisle during today’s vote.

So this means that, for now, the basic Defense Bill, which funds the military (who needs it to just keep operating) is not on the floor. I’m watching Senator Barbara Boxer on C-Span2 right now who is complaining about the inability to debate either the DADT amendment or the Dream Act Amendment. One point she make is that the only other countries in the world that don’t allow open gays in the military are Iran, Turkey, Cuba, North Korea, Egypt and a few others… Our friends, England, Germany, Austria, Canada, France and many more, allow open gay military service. Get the idea.

The ED Show summed it up pretty well last February:

The DREAM act, which allows children who are not citizens but were brought into their country by parents, can get a leading run to citizenship… and, also, to populate our military with thousands of people currently not allowed in… has been trying to get on the agenda for the last 10 years. This is something that really should be brought back up on the agenda again and again until it is passed.

Meanwhile, we are seeing this Congress’ major problem… the inability to get things done when Senators… and that is Republican Senators… Filibuster EVERYTHING, rather than letting majority rule.

A federal judge on Thursday declared the U.S. military‘s ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional and said she will issue an order to stop the government from enforcing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy nationwide.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips said the ban violates the First and Fifth Amendment rights of gays and lesbians. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” prohibits the military from asking about the sexual orientation of service members but requires discharge of those who acknowledge being gay or are discovered engaging in homosexual activity, even in the privacy of their own homes off base.

In her ruling, Phillips said the policy doesn’t help military readiness and instead has a “direct and deleterious effect” on the armed services.

TPM Livewire has a good article called “Chambliss: Repealing DADT Would Open Door To ‘Adultery’ And ‘Body Art’ In The Military” up right now. While the Military is looking to phase out Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the Georgia Senator is looking out for our morality.

At the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing today on the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) expressed his concern that repealing the rule would pave the way for allowing “alcohol use, adultery, fraternization, and body art” in the military — and that the army must “exclude persons whose presence in the armed forces would create unacceptable risk to the armed forces’ high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion.”

“In my opinion,” he said, “the presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would very likely create an unacceptable risk to those high standards.”

Why, if gays are allowed into the military, Chambliss said, soon the armed forces will allow all sorts of other things.

Rate this:

Bill Tchakirides

Would you believe that this old man in West Virginia was once a Broadway Producer, or a Commercial Food Photographer, or a Justice of the Peace, or a Font Designer, or even a Director of a major non-profit Arts Program on Cape Cod? Well, he was. Now he spends most of his time posting in the blogosphere and looking for things to do (retirement is a bitch).
- - -
A note about YOUR COMMENTS. I accept comments from all sides... but I reserve the right to eliminate comments with offensive (to me) language and comments which promote causes or situations I believe to be criminal or worse. Also, please limit your comments to no more than three insertions... I'm less than thrilled with the same argument on any subject repeated more than three times. Continued posts complaining about me or my views without presenting a polite argument will get you on my Spam list.

I cut unpaid advertising and absolute crap, too. Once you are cut and on the Spam list you are there forever. I don't even look at Spam posts, I just erase them... so please keep all arguments above board and avoid insulting the admittedly thin-skinned blogger, yours truly.

SPAMMERS:
Don't even bother to push your unpaid advertising disguised as comments on this blog. We are very good at keeping it off and the software we use to do so is terrific. If you want to advertise, send an e-mail to the owner (btchakir@mac.com) and he'll work out a financial arrangement for you.

If you want to e-mail Bill:

Click on the mailbox picture in any post.
_____________________

Subscribe to This Blog

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Calendar

Blogsurfer.us

Blog Stats

866,251 hits

I am a Liberal

"Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act.
What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things...every one! So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor."
-- Matt Santos, The West Wing